Chalk-sharpener.



No. 644,66I'. Patented Mar. 6, I900.

P. CHUCK.

CHALK SHABPENEB.

(Application filed Dec. 18, 1 899.)

(No Model.)

L 1110.. WASHINGTON. u. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PINOUS cnocK, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

CHALK-SHARPEN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,661, dated March 6, 1900.

Application filed DecemberlS, 1899. Serial No- 740,653. (lilo model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PINOUS CHooK, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Chalk-Sharpeners, of which the following is a specification sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which the invention appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to means for sharpening the chalks or markers used by tailors in outlining the parts of garments on the cloth from which they are to be made, &c. These markers are usually made of flat elongated pieces of soapstone or chalk or of chalk and Wax combined. It has heretofore been the practice to sharpen them by hand by means of aknife or equivalent device, the resulting powder, chips, or shavings being allowed to fall to the floor. Since the material of which the markers are composed is in any case comparatively soft, smooth, and adhesive, so that the sharpened edge soon wears away and the marker has to be frequently resharpened, it results that the floor around the cutters table soon becomes coated with the marking material, which is trodden under foot until it becomes slippery and inconvenient and even dangerous to walk upon. This is especially so where wax is combined with the chalk.

My invention is designed to obviate this diffioulty and to afford a device especially adapted to the use of cutters, which shall have a threefold function--namely, that of a sharpener by which the required edge may be quickly and conveniently produced upon a marker, of a stable and safe collector and holder for the powder, chips, or shavings sev ered from the marker, and of aweight for use in keeping the cloth in place. Hence the invention consists, essentially, in a combined sharpener, holder, and weight constructed and arranged substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of my device; Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional elevation upon plane of line 3 3, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a transverse vertical section taken upon plane of line 4 4, Fig. 1; Fig. 5, a sectional detail illustrating the sharpening operation; Fig. 6, an isometrical view of a chalk marker.

The body of the device consists of or constitutes a tray or receptacle A, by and between the walls a a of which the sharpener S is supported, preferably, although said sharpener S may be otherwise supported above or within the receptacle A without departing from the spirit and intent of my invention in this respect, the essential feature being that the series of blades 8 s of which the sharpener is composed shall be so situated as to discharge the material severed from the markers onto the floor a of said receptacle.

When the sharpener S is constructed as shown in the accompanying drawings, the cutter-blades s s are supported upon a bolt B, extending through the opposed end walls of the holder or receptacle A, said bolt B beingsquare or of other polygonal form in crosssection to sustain the blades in alinement with each other, the latter being spaced by washers w w between them.

Each blade 8 s is formed with converging cutting edges 0 0, so that said edges collectively constitute practically a V shaped groove, having lateral openings (formed by the washers w to) through which the material scraped oif the markers may descend to the fioor a of the holder A.

The base of the receptacle or holder is made of sufficient weight to retain the device in an upright position under all conditions of ordinary use, so as to prevent the accidental displacement of the material dropped from the cutting edges 0 c. This counterweighting of the device may be accomplished by making the base itself relatively thick and heavy or by filling its under side with lead or other metal or heavy material, as the filling F. (Indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings.)

The lower parts of the blades 8 s are curved or rounded, (see Fig. 4,) so that the fingers may be passed under the sharpener S, if desired, for the purpose of lifting or carrying it without danger or inconvenience.

In use the device is placed upon the cloth and used as a weight to retain the cloth in position upon the cutting-table. It is thus always in convenient position for use in resharpening or reforming the edges of the markers M, the waste from which is collected within the body of the device and retained therein by reason of preponderance of Weight at the base of the device until intentionally discharged therefrom. This counterweighting of the base of the device also performs another important function in that it resists and counteracts the strain created by drawing the chalk or marker over the cutting edges, so that the device need not be held by hand during the sharpening operation. Thus the operation of sharpening a chalk or marker may be performed much more quickly and conveniently than heretofore and without inconvenience or danger from the material removed. All this is accomplished by my special construction of a weight of ordinary use 

